A tradition of Christmas spider ornaments [Pictures]

Nancy McKenzie photo, Baltimore Sun Media Group

Cindy Horman, of Eldersburg, reacts to a comment by Gary Sawyer as she starts to pack away some of her personal collection of Christmas spiders. A variety of the spiders made for sale are on the table.

Eldersburg resident Cindy Horman's very first Christmas spider came as a gift from her mother, the late Judy Roberts, and her mother's partner, Paula Bonin, back in 1996. Now, Horman and friend Rosalie Sawyer make and sell their own Christmas spiders. In a nutshell, the German legend of the Christmas spider relates how the spiders wanted to see the beauty of the Christmas tree, and, being nearsighted, they had to climb all over the tree to see each ornament. When the Christ Child arrived to bless the house, he touched the webs the spiders left behind and turned them into silver and gold. This is how the story explains tinsel being hung on Christmas trees, and in Germany and other countries, it is why a Christmas spider ornament is hung on the tree.